You’re viewing a house – it’s perfect, exactly what you’ve been looking for so let’s get going and move in!! But have you considered who you’re renting from?
Here are some top questions we’d recommend YOU ask US:
- Are you a member of any approved bodies? Every letting agent has to be registered to an approved body – such as UKALA or ARLA, this gives you some protection if the letting agent treats you wrong and a point of complaint.
- Are you and the house registered with Rent Smart Wales? This is a new legislation (November 2015) which means every house for rent in Wales has to be registered, whether it is managed by the landlord or a letting agent. Every agent in Wales has to also be registered.
- Is the property managed by the landlord or you, the Agent? This is an important one because you’ll learn from the off who you go to with any questions or issues. If the property is managed by the landlord you need to direct any queries to them, if it’s the Agent, everything goes through us as we represent the landlord.
- My property needs urgent maintenance – what happens? If we’re fully managing the property, we will have agreed a rate (for example £200) that we can spend without landlord authorisation. If it’s something major that has to be sorted within a few hours, we’ll authorise it and then contact the landlord. If it’s something that costs over £200, and we have some time to play with, we’ll contact the landlord first and discuss options (for example, a broken shower but you have a second bathroom).
- How many inspections do you carry out a year, and do they cost us? We don’t want to bother people in their home – it’s not comfortable for us or for you. We’ll always do a move in welcome inspection around 6 weeks after you move in – this is a good chance for you to talk to us about any niggles (that window won’t open perhaps) and it gives us a good chance to see how well you are looking after the house. If we’re concerned, or feel that inspections on a regular basis are necessary, we’ll usually do one a quarter. If we’re happy, we’ll probably only pop by once a year. We’ll always give notice, of at least 48 hours.
- Exactly how much is the rent, deposit & application? Get this in writing so it is all confirmed and you can avoid any nasty shocks when you come to signing the contract. Each house is different as it is generally down to the landlord. You can read about our applications fees in our FAQs section.
- Who do you use to register a deposit? There are a range of Government schemes that letting agents use to register a deposit – it is the law to do so, so ask which one your agent uses. Here at Redfern Property we use the DPS – Deposit Protection Scheme.